A Different life
by AutumnRiver
Summary: What if Sirius thought before acting That Night. Way back when. And I don't mean at the Ministry.
1. Prologue

-1This story is an AU. It is from my own strange little imagination.

Disclaimer - All things Harry Potter belong to the genius that is JKR. I am only borrowing it. No money is being made. Unfortunately.

**A Different Life**

The Dark Lord was gone. So long, goodbye. Unfortunately he _would_ be back. But for now he was gone. At the hands of a baby no less. Harry Potter. That had to be embarrassing. But so what? If it wasn't so serious, Severus Snape would have hurt himself laughing at it all.

Of course James and Lily Potter had also died. That did hurt. Not that James was dead. Severus didn't care about that. But he had cared for Lily. They were friends once. Not for a while now, but once.

Severus sighed and stared down at his drink. Some rotgut that Mundungus Fletcher had the nerve to call alcohol. But it was numbing and that was all that mattered. Even if his insides were never going to speak to him again.

He was waiting for information. Oh he already knew that the Dark Lord had been hurt badly. He knew that the Potter's were dead - Barring Harry of course. He knew that the Secret Keeper had betrayed the Potter's.

Now he was waiting. For the celebrations to stop and everyone to remember that the Dark Lord's followers were still out there.

Waiting for the work to begin.

Sirius Black stayed out of sight. He hadn't moved fast enough and now Hagrid was searching. For Harry. Sirius' godson.

A cry. There he was. His sweet emerald eyed boy. He could hear Hagrid talking. Saying that Harry was to go to his Aunt and Uncle.

The Dursley's.

Sirius remembered them Had met them at Lily and James' wedding. Okay. So maybe he had gone overboard with the pranks. But to late for regrets. Sirius had grown up tonight. To bad that it had taken so long to happen.

He knew everyone thought him to be the traitor. No one knew about the switch. That the real traitor was Peter Pettigrew.

Wormtail.

Their friend.

He clenched his fists. Hard. Couldn't lose his temper. Not now. It was to important. Of course that also meant he couldn't go after that snivelling little coward. One day. But not now. Impulsive actions were a thing of the past. Now he had to think.

Sirius really wished that he had had more practise at that. It was more draining then he thought it would be. So much to factor in. But he could do it. For James and Lily. For little Harry.

Sirius knew where the Dursley's lived. He also knew that everyone was out looking for him. At least they would be. Once the shock and excitement wore away.

He was going to need help. He needed to get Harry and leave the country. But for all he was a Maruader this was beyond his abilities. So was raising a child, but one thing at a time.

There was only one person he could think of that could help him. It hurt, but it needed to be done.

Severus Snape.

Damnit.


	2. Meeting's between enemies

**Disclaimer: See Prologue**

*********************************

The Order's current headquarters' was located in a country cottage in the middle of nowhere. This was where Severus was waiting. Soon he would have work to do. But for now he waited, drank a little and grieved.

When the door opened he looked up curious. He honestly didn't expect anyone until tomorrow. When he saw who came through the door he was livid.

"You!" he shouted pulling his wand. "How dare you show your face here!" But there was something that stopped him from doing more. For Sirius Black - because that's who it was - hadn't pulled his wand.

There wasn't his usual cocky smile. No arrogance. No supreme belief that he was better than Severus. If anything he looked to have aged 20 years since the last time Severus had seen him.

"I need your help. Please." the words were pleading, his usual disdain gone. "I wasn't the Secret Keeper"

"A likely story. If not you, who? Lupin?" Severus voic was even more scathing than normal. For the first time Sirius realised just how much damage that silky voice could cause. A magic all it's own.

"It wasn't me. I switched with Peter. We didn't tell anyone because we wanted everyone to think it was me. That way if something did happen I couldn't say anything."

There was something in his face that stopped Severus from cursing him. He was a spy. He had learned to read people quite well. Tell when they were speaking the truth. When they were lying. The talent had saved his life before. Now it was telling him that Black was speaking the truth.

"Please Snape. Use legilimency if it helps. Or Veritiserum. I thought I was protecting them. I never thought the traitor was Peter. He was my friend. I never could have thought of him like that."

Severus hesitated then stepped forward. He did not lower is wand. Instead he tipped Black's chin up with it. A threat Sirius took to heart.

Then Severus was there in Sirius' mind. Sirius was no Occlumance. Didn't know a thing about it. Severus wasn't exactly gentle, but he wasn't harsh either. It could have been worse.

And there the memory was. Lily, James, Sirius and Peter talking in the Potter's living room. Agreeing to make Peter the Secret Keeper.

Severus sighed again as he pulled out of Sirius mind. He wanted to believe that Black had altered the memory but knew he hadn't. Sirius knew nothing about these kinds of magic. He also knew nothing about subtlety. And Severus was very good at spotting if someone had tampered with memories.

"Alright, you didn't do it. Not that anyone would belive me. If your expecting me to convince anyone of your innocence you've lucked out."

"That's not what I wanted help with. I know no one will bother to find out if I'm telling the truth or not. It's something else."

Severus waited several several moments before snapping impatiently "Well. What do you want?"

This time Sirius sighed and sat at the table. Toying with the bottle he started.

"You know that Harry survived tonight." It wasn't a question and he didn't wait for a response. "I went to get him but Hagrid beat be to it. Dumbledore sent him. Hagrid is to take Harry to Petunia."

Severus hissed. He had met Petunia Dursley - then Evans - before. He remembered a vindictive girl who hated magic in general and witches and wizards specifically. "Is the old man finally losing it?" He didn't expect an answer and started pacing. "She will _hate_ the boy."

Sirius nodded. "I know. Dumbledore might convince her to take Harry, but she will never treat him properly. I want to take Harry and raise him myself but you can see the problem. No one can know about this. They'll start hunting us and we'll never be safe. We'll be fugitive our entire lives."

Sirius stopped. Took a deep breath. Then he grabbed the bottle off the table and drank straight from it. Most was spat out again. Severus looked on in amusement as Sirius coughed and spluttered trying to catch his breath.

"What the hell was that?"

"That was some of Fletcher's finest homebrew." The tone was haughty but the amusement obvious. Then he became serious again.

"Alright, so you want to take the boy and live happily ever after. What's that got to do with me?" Severus would never admit it but he was very curious as to what the man who despised him so much wanted.

"I need to get Harry and leave the country without drawing attention. But I don't know how to go about it. I believe you do. And I also don't know how to raise a child. I can't do this - any of it - on my own. This would be a long term investment."

Sirius was nervous and it showed. What if Snape said no? What if he turned him over to the Aurors? It would be fair punishment for what Sirius had done to him over the years.

Severus was quiet as he thought over the request. He didn't like Sirius. But other than being a bully and not thinking things through, he hadn't done anything wrong. And after his own childhood he couldn't abandon a child to one like it.

Severus had no doubt that life with the Dursley's would be unpleasant. Not as bad as his own childhood, but still unpleasant. He didn't mind getting Sirius and Harry out of the country. It was the sticking around and raising the boy that bothered him. Having to stay - live with Sirius - that bothered him.

But the simple fact was that he couldn't leave a child to an abusive situation. Though if anyone dared ask he'd just say he didn't want Sirius raising Harry as a carbon copy of James. The original had been bad enough. No need for anyone to know he felt a bit sorry for the child.

"Alright. I'll do it. We'd better go now though. There's a lot to do."

Sirius sighed with relief. He was curious as to why Severus had agreed. But that was for later. Right now they needed to get Harry.

And with that, the two unlikely accomplices left the cottage together.


	3. Debates and friendly kidnappings

**Parts in italics are from the book**

After they had stepped beyond the cottage wards, Severus raised a hand stopping Sirius. Before he could talk however, Sirius started.

"Look we can sort out everything later. So lets just go to Surrey and get Harry!"

Severus arched an eyebrow before speaking. "I see your new found maturity has it's limits. Actually I was going to ask the address of the Dursley's. And also suggest we apparate a little away from the house. Someone will be watching and we need to stay out of sight."

Sirius blushed. He was a Marauder and knew enough to avoid being seen. But he didn't think about it. He would have to work on his patience. Or rather his impatience.

"Sorry. I'm just anxious. It's No. 4 Privet Drive, Little Whingeing, Surrey. There is a park nearby. At this time of night it should be deserted."

Severus nodded and the two men apparated away. They reappeared moments later in the middle of the park. Then once again Severus raised his hand to stop Sirius.

Sirius badly wanted to say something but this time held off. No point embarrassing himself twice in so short a period of time. Severus looked at him as though waiting for him to speak. When Sirius didn't, Severus did.

"We need to be cautious obviously. No arguments. No talking in fact unless absolutely necessary. No rushing in without thinking. No impulsive actions. And no magic."

That caught Sirius' attention.

"What do mean no magic?!"

"Dumbledore will be here. For all his a trusting man and acts the part of the doddering old fool, he is very shrewd and observant. He'll be paying attention for anything out of place. And magic he didn't use will be out of place."

It made sense to a point but-

"You can't feel magic. At least not the way you're talking about!"

Sirius was beginning to think that Severus wasn't as smart as people thought. Severus merely sighed and explained.

"Witches and Wizards can feel magic to some degree. One's like Dumbledore- powerful- can feel it more then others, but we can all feel it." He didn't let Sirius interrupt but kept talking. "You- your entire family most likely- haven't noticed because you're constantly surrounded by it. It's never not there. But spend some time away from magic in the muggle world and then you'll notice when a spell is cast nearby."

Sirius stopped to think about that. Maybe Severus was right. He'd never been anywhere in his life where he wouldn't be surrounded by magic. It was worth keeping in mind at least.

"Alright, no magic. But how do we get Harry?" Sirius was getting impatient. He hadn't realised all this caution would be necessary. Again he wished that he had had practice at thinking things through.

"By being patient. Not something you have a lot of practice at, I know. However there's no time like the present to learn. We will get the chance. We will also have to make sure that everybody has actually left. Now when we go, we will remain several doors down and stay in the shadows. We cannot be seen."

This was said so firmly that Sirius couldn't argue.

The two wizards set off at a quick pace towards Private Drive.

As they reached their destination they noticed a very familiar cat sitting across the road. Very carefully the two men moved further back into the shadows. Staying still they watched and waited. Just moments after they had settled into place another man appeared done the street. This man hadn't arrived as stealthily as they had however. This man had simply apparated. If he was worried about being seen, it didn't show. As Severus and Sirius watched Albus Dumbledore- For even from this distance the could see it was him (no one else would dress like that, or have that long a beard) proceeded to turn out all of the street lights. Then he walked down to sit next to the tabby cat on the small brick wall. They could only hear parts of the following conversation curtesy of the distance.

"_Fancy seeing…… McGonagall"_

As Dumbledore spoke the cat changed into a woman.

"…_Stiff…been sitting…all day."_

"_All day?…been celebrating?…dozen feasts…way here."_

The conversation continued for several minutes. Severus and Sirius were both getting impatient but neither moved. Finally another man- a huge seemingly giant man- arrived. _In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets._ Sirius tensed as he saw Hagrid. He looked at Severus before turning back to the scene playing out before them. Dumbledore and McGonagall both gathered around Hagrid to look at the baby he carried.

_Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house._

The two watchers could hear Hagrids' sobs as Dumbledore took Harry away. They watched, stunned as Dumbledore left Harry on the doorstep of all places. _For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle. _Finally they all left. McGonagall turned back into her cat form and slipped away into the night. Dumbledore and Hagrid left together.

When the street was once again deserted and the lights back on, Severus and Sirius both sighed with relief. So far so good. They left their hiding place but kept to the shadows.

Reaching the front porch of No. 4, they cast another look around and then moved towards the abandoned child. Looking down they saw that Harry was fast asleep. As Sirius carefully brushed Harry's hair aside, they also saw the soon-to-be-famous lightening bolt scar.

Sirius looked at Severus as he picked up the sleeping child. Not for the first time- and not for the last- he wondered what was going on in the other man's mind.

Severus beckoned his companion to follow him. Together they left No. 4 Private Drive and returned to the park.

"London. Do you know the diner up the street from the Leaky Cauldron?" Sirius nodded. "Good. Go there. Wait. Avoid being seen by our kind. I'll get what we need to leave. Then I'll meet you."

Sirius nodded again. The three companions left Surrey for good.


End file.
